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From Wikipedia:

John Stockton, Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, and Bob Cousy are widely considered the greatest ever at delivering assists in the NBA. Stockton holds the record for most total assists in a career, with 15,806. Behind him is Mark Jackson, whose 10,334 assists are a distant second to Stockton's total. Magic Johnson holds the record for most average apg for a career with 11.2, Stockton is second with 10.5. Stockton holds the most per season with 14.5. Stockton, Jackson, and Johnson were all point guards. Oscar Robertson had 9,887 career assists at a time when assists were only awarded for field goals made without a dribble. He was the first player to average more than 10 assists per game in a season, and led the NBA in assists six times. Cousy led the league in assists eight straight seasons. The NBA single-game assist record is 30, held by Scott Skiles of the Orlando Magic against the Denver Nuggets, on December 30, 1990.

WOW, I had no idea that they actually didn't count an assist for a single dribble. I wonder what the leaders would actually look like if the rule was the same for Cousey and Robertson, as it's been for today's players, or the other way around. Anyways, it's certainly seems unfair that they count the assist differently all of a sudden, and it just makes it look like players lacked passing fundamentals or something, when in fact that was not the case. So when Chamberlain led the league in assist with 8.6 apg, it probably was closer to 11-13 by today's count? The year before he had 7.8apg, which was good 3rd in the NBA. Considering that the 1967-68 76ers scored 122.6ppg, something tells me he definitely was able to get more than 10apg two seasons in a row. So maybe he was the first, and only ever to have 2 triple doubles?

Discuss.

It was easier than today's. Trust me.

All you can really do is match them against their peers.

Patterns wrote:It was easier than today's. Trust me.

You played back then did you?

There was less of the dribble play as a whole at that time. There was a lot more fundamental catch and shoot. Look at some old game film and you will see what I am talking about. A guy runs off a screen catches and shoots. It's similar to what Nash does in Phoenix. Those guys just catch and shoot a lot so that is how you rack up assist. Also guys used to shoot more mid-range so they would make more of their shots at a higher percentage with less intense defensive pressure.

The thing about Oscar that was impressive was not the assist, scoring or rebounding. It was that he did every one of them at a high level consistently.

Overall assists have risen significantly since then . . . despite a lower pace that means that points and assists were higher then. So, yes, Oscar would probably have the highest assist totals of all time, but he wouldn't have had the scoring and rebounding numbers in today's game because those numbers aren't as easy today. (assuming equal performance against today's players as against their peers).

There also wasn't nearly as much freaking ISO back then. You ran that and you were off to the bench. There was lots of passing and fundamental "don't let the ball hit the floor" type stuff. But yea, what penbeast said is pretty accurate I'd think. It was a lot harder to get assists but it was easier to score and grab rebounds. It doesn't make what Oscar did any less amazing though.

There was no defense at that time, also he always played with great players, Jabbar one of them

I thought that was still how they counted assists...

Whateva wrote:There was no defense at that time, also he always played with great players, Jabbar one of them

No need to bring Magic into this discussion

Patterns wrote:It was easier than today's. Trust me.

penbeast0 wrote:Overall assists have risen significantly since then . . . despite a lower pace that means that points and assists were higher then. So, yes, Oscar would probably have the highest assist totals of all time, but he wouldn't have had the scoring and rebounding numbers in today's game because those numbers aren't as easy today. (assuming equal performance against today's players as against their peers).

Great post